Elated by the victory of the United Democratic Front candidate Uma Thomas by a margin of over 25,000 votes in the Thrikkakara bypoll, K Sudhakaran, chief of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC),said it shows Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has now become the leader of a weakened Left Democratic Front (LDF). He also demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister by accepting the people’s mandate if the latter had self-esteem.
Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan, however said he wouldn’t demand the resignation of the CM for a bypoll defeat and said the UDF does not want to be carried away by the victory. “We bow before the people of Thrikkakara and thank them for the victory. Both the leaders and the workers of the UDF fought alike for this. We don't want to get carried away by this victory. This shows that we have a lot more work to finish. We will be back to power if we work at the grass-roots level.” Satheesan told the media in Kochi. The bypoll to the constituency was held on June 1 and the result was announced on June 3.
“Our fight is against fundamentalism. We won't cosy up with fundamentalists for a few votes. The fight against fundamentalism is equally important. Fundamentalism will be buried in the soil of Kerala,” he said.
However Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) attributed the victory to the Congress’s success in uniting all anti-Left forces. Speaking to the media in Thiruvananthapuram, Kodiyeri said that the state has a history of family members of deceased leaders being elected because of sympathy waves.Uma is the wife of late PT Thomas, whose death necessitated the bypoll in the constituency.
“There are over 30 seats in Kerala which are Congress bastions of which Thrikkakara is one. Only a primary analysis of the poll defeat has been done. A detailed analysis at the booth level will be done. The Twenty-20 (political outfit of a corporate group) not fielding a candidate turned helpful for the Congress,” he said.
Kodiyeri rejected the argument that the election result is an assessment of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government, which completed one year in office. "We highlighted the politics of development in the elections. But considering the mandate, it should be examined if that was a matter of consideration for the people,” he said.
Former CPI(M) MLA M Swaraj who, along with minister P Rajeev, was the face of the Left campaign told media that this was not an election led by the Chief Minister. "That was the general election in 2021 and it won us seats. If this defeat is being looked upon as that of the Chief Minister, then all the bypolls in the history should be looked upon in that way," he said.
Swaraj also said that a deep analysis of the election result is needed to comment on the factors that led to it. “We will evaluate the election result. We will try to address misunderstandings if any among the people. We will work among the people in a more vibrant way. The politics of the Left has always been about learning lessons from defeats,” Swaraj said.